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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22918501">i'm married (but i love you most)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/smartbuckley/pseuds/smartbuckley'>smartbuckley</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Buddie Tumblr Prompts [21]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>9-1-1 (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Divorce, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Marriage of Convenience, Mentions of Canonical Cancer, mentions of dying</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 16:36:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,332</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22918501</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/smartbuckley/pseuds/smartbuckley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Divorce papers?” Buck can’t help but ask, his grin widening when Michael nods, his arms going around Michael’s shoulders immediately for a quick hug before he breaks away from the man and grabs the papers, going through them carefully.</p>
<p>“Divorce?” Chimney asks and Buck jumps in surprise, looking towards his teammates and Athena, fingers running through his hair as he chuckles, feeling slightly awkward. Briefly, he looks towards Eddie and ---</p>
<p>His heart pounds in his chest because Eddie looks devastated and betrayed and Buck wants to fix that this moment. Involuntarily, Buck steps closer to Eddie, a noise escaping from his throat when Eddie steps back, eyes wide and full of hurt.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Buddie Tumblr Prompts [21]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1528010</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>432</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>i'm married (but i love you most)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22250053">The Last Goodbye</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeightCopper/pseuds/KeightCopper">KeightCopper</a>.
        </li>

    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was based off the following prompt: <i>It’s a normal day a the station when when a very pensive looking Buck comes in for his shift. Everyone notices this and are also a shocked when they see that he’s wearing a ring on THAT finger. Eddie is secretly devastated both because Buck got hitched and he’s in love with him. When Buck introduces his spouse, everyone is even more stunned when it’s a handsome but frail man. He’s a friend of Buck’s who’s dying and just wanted to be a husband. Eddie falls even harder for Buck. 118 help.</i>. </p>
<p>I had this story pretty much completely written, but I then read <a href="https://theladyandthewolves.tumblr.com/post/190108736013/okay-but-what-if-buck-married-his-high-school">this tumblr post</a> and then <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22250053">this fanfiction</a> and decided to re-write the story so that it fit better with that, a bit. </p>
<p>The story itself is a lot more fluff than angst than what I think the original prompter wanted, but I hope they enjoy it, nonetheless. As always, the story is not beta-edited.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The shift was a dead one, something that rarely happened, and Buck was currently washing the firetruck with Eddie, both of them lightly flirting with one another while doing so, laughter bubbling up from Buck over something Eddie says. Buck finds himself watching Eddie when he can, a smile on his face when Eddie turns to look at him, his heart fluttering as he does so. Ever since their talk after the lawsuit and the street fighting, Buck can’t help but feel like the flirting between them has grown to a point where eventually, they will have to make a decision, will have to decide if they want to keep tip-toeing around their flirting or do something about it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Admittedly, Buck hopes Eddie decides to do something about the flirting, because while Buck knows he can do something about it himself, and has thought about it, he also knows he wants Eddie to make the first move, since Buck doesn’t know if Eddie is ready to move on yet. It’s something that depresses Buck, so he tries not to think about and instead, goes back to washing the truck, grinning when Eddie nudges him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They continue like that for an unknown amount of time, laughing and nudging one another in the other’s sides, unable to stop themselves from grinning and raking their eyes down one another’s bodies before flushing when they get caught. The two of them are so caught up in one another that it takes a few minutes for them both to realize that the entire team is standing around them with Bobby having arched one of his eyebrows like he’s waiting patiently for them to realize something is going on.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ah, sorry,” Buck can’t help but chuckle, cheeks turning red as he turns in a circle, wonder what’s going on.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What’s going on?” He asks when Eddie laughs, and Buck can’t stop himself from sticking his tongue out at his best friend, who only turns red in response.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Michael is here asking for you,” Bobby responds, arms folded in front of his chest, confusion on his face and Buck can’t help but drop his mouth open in surprise, instantly straightening up and turning towards Athena’s ex-husband with an awkward chuckle and a wave.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, so uh, what’s up?” Buck asks, walking towards Michael and tensing when he can feel everyone staring at him, Eddie especially. When Michael removes his hands from behind his back, Buck immediately looks towards them, eyes widening in surprise before a smile forms on his face upon seeing the stack of papers Michael is holding.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Divorce papers?” Buck can’t help but ask, his grin widening when Michael nods, his arms going around Michael’s shoulders immediately for a quick hug before he breaks away from the man and grabs the papers, going through them carefully.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Divorce?” Chimney asks and Buck jumps in surprise, looking towards his teammates and Athena, fingers running through his hair as he chuckles, feeling slightly awkward. Briefly, he looks towards Eddie and ---</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His heart pounds in his chest because Eddie looks devastated and betrayed and Buck wants to fix that this moment. Involuntarily, Buck steps closer to Eddie, a noise escaping from his throat when Eddie steps back, eyes wide and full of hurt.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I asked Buck to marry me because I didn’t have insurance for my treatments and was still listed as married on a lot of my hospital forms,” Michael admits softly, and Buck knows he should look towards everyone, but he can’t look away from Eddie, wanting to </span>
  <em>
    <span>explain</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And you said yes?” Eddie asks, looking at Buck carefully. Buck, ignoring the way everyone is staring at him and Eddie decides to grab Eddie by the arm and lightly drag him to one of the bunk rooms, sitting them down on the bed with a huff of exasperation coming through.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, but only because without the insurance, he wasn’t going to get the treatment. And without the treatment, he wasn’t going to get </span>
  <em>
    <span>better</span>
  </em>
  <span>. And I didn’t want May and Harry to lose their father, or Athena and Bobby to lose a friend,” Buck says, looking at Eddie carefully, biting his lower lip.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you love him?” Buck hears Eddie ask and Buck almost wants to snort in response, but shakes his head fast.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But you married him?” Buck looks at Eddie carefully here, sees Eddie watching him and he lets out a small smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes. It was his last wish, I guess. He missed the feeling of being married, you know? Missed having someone to say he belonged to, especially because he was dying. But as he got better, and knew he was going to survive, it mattered less and less,” Buck says, shrugging briefly while looking away from Eddie before looking back at him with another smile, “But I’m here with you, Eddie. Don’t let me being married to a friend confuse you.” Buck admits, his hand grabbing Eddie’s and interlacing with his own. He watches Eddie for a few minutes, smiling when Eddie squeezes his hand.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you love me?” Eddie asks and Buck nearly chokes back a laugh, looking at Eddie with wide eyes before letting out a small laugh.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m pretty sure you know the answer to that, Diaz,” Buck teases back, a small smirk on his face while Eddie lets out his own laugh.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So, divorce?” Eddie asks, and Buck nods, squeezing Eddie’s hand once more.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We were only ever doing this because he needed insurance, and both promised to get divorced if he ever got better. It’s been coming for a while now, actually, we just kept putting it off because of our schedules,” Buck admits. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You have such a kind heart, you know that, right?” Eddie asks and Buck looks at Eddie, eyes widening slightly before he grins, shifting closer to his best friend and humming softly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I mean, I’m sure I do. Sometimes I feel like it gets taken advantage of though,” Buck admits, and when Eddie squeezes his hand once more, he looks back up at Eddie and smiles.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I love you, Buck. For your big heart, your brains, and you in general. Don’t ever change, alright?” Eddie asks, voice low and Buck can’t stop himself from leaning forward and kissing the other man, hand caressing Eddie’s cheek before he breaks away with a smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I love you too, you know. You and Christopher both.” Buck responds, heart pounding as Eddie looks up at him with a small smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, let’s get you divorced, Buckley. I don’t want to take out a married man,” Eddie says with a grin, Buck snorting as he follows Eddie from the bed, stretching briefly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Who says I even agreed to be taken out?” Buck teases, eyes shining bright with happiness and love as he holds Eddie’s hand and they walk out of the bunk room and towards the firetruck, knowing that everyone’s going to have even more questions for Buck.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before they get to the fire truck though, where Buck can see everyone standing around, Eddie stops them and turns to look at him while Buck frowns briefly when he sees the look on Eddie’s face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you want to go out with me, on an actual date, this Saturday?” Eddie asks and Buck can’t help but grin as he leans forward, kissing Eddie briefly before pulling away and leaning his forehead against Eddie’s.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I would love to go out with you, Eddie,” Buck whispers, squeezing Eddie’s hand before turning back towards the group and heading their way, grinning when Eddie’s hand tightens in his own, and Hen notices, dropping her mouth open before grinning.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, looks like Buck moves on fast,” she laughs, and Buck grins, shrugging, agreeing with the sentence with a grin towards Eddie, kissing him quickly before pulling away for a final time, grabbing a pen and signing the papers he left on the table, knowing his life is going to change by signing them, for the better.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I hope you guys enjoyed it. Comments and constructive criticism are loved and appreciated.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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